1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a waveguide device.
2. Related Art
The information society has been remarkably developing. In recent years, large-capacity information such as moving images are frequently exchanged between individuals as well as between companies, so that communication tools with a larger capacity and a higher speed have been demanded. Therefore, the importance of optical communications capable of large-capacity, high-speed information communication has been increasingly growing.
The large-capacity, high-speed communications are supported by optical communication techniques. Examples of devices used for optical communications include optical fibers and various waveguide devices such as optical switching elements, optical modulators, and routers. These devices are integrated to fabricate optical circuits having various functions. In particular, optical elements such as optical switching elements and optical modulators often include organic electro-optic materials (non-linear optical materials) having “electro-optic effect (EO effect)” to change the refractive index with the electric field. Specifically, organic electro-optic materials have a low dielectric constant, so that there is no velocity mismatch between optical wave and microwave or millimeter wave. Therefore, their possibility of remarkably improving the response speed has been receiving attention. In addition, an organic electro-optic materials can be dispersed in or combined with polymer materials, and thus can be applied by spin coating or other method to readily form large thin films with improved processability, so that they have a great advantage in fabrication of devices at remarkably low cost.